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Changing the Game

cruizers100411

I am fascinated by product and consumer marketing.

I am fascinated by the creative ways that businesses, both small and large, are able to market to their customers – and, at the same time, search for ways to improve the overall customer experience.

Professionally, I’m new to the AV industry.

Personally (or as a consumer) I’d consider myself an AVid user. (See what I did there?)

So, as someone who is transitioning from the marketing industry to the AV industry, I become even more fascinated when the two industries collide or work together or are “synergistic” – so to speak. (My golly, can I just say that I love to use words like synergistic in actual sentences?)

Moving on.

As I mentioned in my first post, I love Diet Coke. And I REALLY love fountain Diet Coke. So, when I stopped at Cruizers, my neighborhood convenience store, this morning on my way to work to pick up the aforementioned fountain beverage, I was, dare I say, PUMPED to see an incredible usage of digital signage RIGHT THERE at the cash register as I checked out.

Digital signage is everywhere these days – on public transit, highway billboards, in restaurants, in malls, etc. It’s constantly flashing, projecting, and rotating advertising at us as we go about our daily lives – essentially telling us what brands we need to pay attention to or what deals we need to take advantage of.

But let me say, that unless you work in the AV industry, none of you are out there saying to yourselves, “Oh wow! Take a gander at that digital signage. Excellent digital signage. Really cuts to the core of what digital signage is all about. Glad to see “X-business” is an early adopter of digital signage.

No. You’re not saying that. You just see it. Maybe you pay it some attention, maybe you don’t.

Anyhow, that’s neither here nor there. Rarely, at least in my own personal experiences, have I seen digital signage go the way of taking the “active interactive” approach looking for MY feedback rather than just “talking at” me.

As you can see in the picture I took with my handy iPhone camera, this touch-sensitive digital sign, RIGHT THERE, at the point-of-purchase, is giving me a quick and easy way to provide my feedback. All I have to do is touch the screen and pick a number between 1 and 5 to tell them how my experience was today.

Now, you can’t see because this is a photo and not a video of the screen, but it also lists my products purchased, total cost, AND it flashes up specials running in the store that might be of interest to me. Not the next guy, but ME. (2, 12-packs of Diet Coke for $5.99? Yes please!)

I noticed the branding on the bottom of the screen “Powered by LIFT/Retail Marketing Technology.” So, I got curious and did some research on the company.

Let me say that my first impression is: THIS COMPANY FLIPPING GETS IT! (And aren’t first impressions supposed to mean everything?)

So, since I’ve done the work for you, here’s a little bit about LIFT Retail (taken from their website):

OUR MISSION. Converting shoppers into customers. Maximizing cashier performance. For LIFT it is about improving in-store sales and operations with game-changing suggestive selling POS technology.

OUR VISION. Change the game at the point-of-purchase with smart, “moment-of-truth” technology into a marketing platform for both retailers and brands.  And more importantly, it is serving as the ultimate enabler for cashiers. Indeed, it is game-changing, paradigm-changing technology that empowers the cashier and converts the shopper. Create value for the shopper with targeted offers, improve cashier sales impact with perfectly timed sales scripts, increase dollar sales for the c-store operator, and grow product volume for suppliers.

Here are the things I love about them:

  • They aren’t secretive about their mission and their vision. I immediately respect a company when they are not only clear about their vision and mission, but also they metaphorically shout it from the rooftops.
  • “Converting shoppers into customers.” Yes, yes, yes! So often companies are so focused on getting dollars in the door RIGHT THEN AND THERE, that they completely disregard the notion of the long tail – they forget about taking the opportunity to turn that customer into a client.
  • The first three words of their vision are “CHANGE THE GAME” – anyone who starts a vision with the phrase “change the game” is okay in my book. But more importantly, they acknowledge that they are changing the game in a particular market. They’ve identified an area where they can really make an impact and they’re working hard to knock it out of the park.

“We’ve come to the realization that there is a huge opportunity to use technology to help us do a better job of suggestive selling in our stores.” -Greg Parker, CEO of The Parker Companies

(underlining added for emphasis. you know. cause it’s cool looking.)

The bottom line from all of this incessant rambling of mine is this: businesses and / or companies (small AND large), no matter the product, market, or industry, that harness and embrace new technology for the benefit of their customer and the benefit of their bottom line are going to be successful. Every time. While, at the same time, taking the opportunity to evaluate their progress and make changes accordingly, are going to be even MORE successful.

Just saying.

What do you think of the adoption of new technology, like digital signage, in more mainstream, everyday, interactive consumer settings? Do you think other companies could adopt similar visions and philosophies similar to that of LIFT Retail? How have you seen new technology (or even digital signage, for that matter) integrated into a consumer setting?

All for now.

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